While Governor Easley and legislative leaders are talking up a new statewide transportation study, a push is on to finally put in place one of the trickiest pieces of the state's highway puzzle.

That's a replacement for the Bonner Bridge on the Outer Banks. The battered span between Bodie and Pea islands, across Oregon Inlet, is a vital connection in good weather and -- especially -- in bad. It's a heavily used crossing for local residents and vacation visitors, and a key evacuation route when hurricanes threaten the islands.

But there's no guarantee the new bridge will be the right bridge. After years of back-and-forth inaction, state and federal agencies are lining up behind a plan likely to create as many problems as it solves.

On Monday, representatives of four federal and state agencies endorsed what's called the short bridge/phased approach plan. Its centerpiece is a 2.5-mile span to be built roughly parallel to the existing concrete-piling bridge, which opened in 1963 (and which is getting a safety makeover for the short term).

Cost of the new short bridge is estimated at between $294 million and $347 million. But because the bridge's southern end would be on fast-eroding Pea Island, engineers have to make provisions for securing N.C. 12, the Outer Banks' lifeline, south of the bridge. The road is frequently overwashed in storms, or covered with sand. In the long run, the highway's Pea Island segment may not exist as we know it.

That's where the "phased approach" part kicks in. It calls for a series of bridges to be built south of the new span as the need arises (that is, as the road erodes). Eventually there could be combinations of roadway and new bridges along Pea Island -- or over the ocean where the island used to be.

Cost: between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion, although the bill would be spread over decades.

Added to the mix is Pea Island's status as a national wildlife refuge. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, its custodian, hasn't been keen on a high-rise roadway in the refuge.

All this is why the option for a 17.5-mile "long bridge" looks better for the long run. Yes, it would cost a fortune -- a billion dollars or more. But that's in the same ballpark as the ultimate cost for the shorter span(s). The long bridge bypasses Pea Island entirely, on its way to more-stable Rodanthe on Hatteras Island. And although it includes more miles over water, the longer bridge could offer an evacuation route as good if not better than one prone to overwash.

Yet representatives of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the state Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Highway Administration's North Carolina division now are leaning strongly in the other direction. They've been prodded by Dare County officeholders -- eager to get the easier-to-finance short bridge under way -- and by anglers who see the long bridge as a hindrance to Oregon Inlet access.

The result was Monday's decision to proceed with the short option. Further go-aheads lie down the road, along with more studies. Then there are potential challenges from environmental groups. Yesterday, the Southern Environmental Law Center and Audubon North Carolina asked the federal Council on Environmental Quality to investigate whether the short bridge option violates federal law by not adequately addressing what will happen on N.C. 12 south of the span.

According to a DOT summary, the agencies agreed Monday that the phases beyond the initial construction will be "more problematic." Mother Nature has her own plans for Pea Island; its environment is constantly changing. The agencies "cannot conclusively say that permits or approvals will or will not be granted for these additional phases."

Really? If for some reason they're not granted, that $300 million short span will be the ultimate "bridge to nowhere."

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